If you haven't read Ender's Game by now, well, let's just say right up front that there's the potential for SPOILERS aplenty in this article. You've been warned.

In fact, the title of this article is perhaps the biggest spoiler. The young Andrew"Ender" Wiggin (played in the upcoming film by Asa Butterfield) is sent to military school to become the greatest military commander of all time. He's trained by the previous generations' top military commanders, played by guys like Ben "Ghandi" Kingsley (who starred with Butterfield in Martin Scorsese's Hugo) and Harrison "Han Solo" Ford. Ender is taught specifically to kill Formics, also known as buggers, an alien hive-mind insectoid race bent on destroying humanity.

Ultimately Ender [big spoiler here!] wins, but that victory almost destroys him. Ender didn't know the war games he was playing were real. In fact, he "cheated" à la Captain James T. Kirk in the Kobayashi Maru, not to show off, but in the hope that the leaders of the Command School would expel him. Instead, [BIGGEST SPOILER EVER!] he utterly obliterates the buggers, committing xenocide.

Guess what? There are plenty of other fictional child prodigies who make Ender look like a choir boy. What Ender does is arguably not his fault—he performed his actions under duress—but some of these kids are so bad they'd go back and play it all over again.

Maybe a few of them have redeeming qualities and only a couple try for all-out galactic destruction. Still, you'd probably prefer your own kids not go to the romper room with these seven holy terrors. Think we missed a fictional bad apple? Let us know in the comments.

7. Artemis Fowl II

If you haven't heard of Artemis Fowl, well, he'll get a movie someday. Meanwhile, fans of middle-grade fiction know he's a 12-year-old criminal mastermind who'll do whatever it takes to regain his family fortune. His schemes lead him and his trusty bodyguard, Butler, into direct conflict with the people of the world of fairy. Later, Artemis gets nicer, but then loses his memory and gets worse again...before he gets nicer.
Verdict: A sleep over at Fowl Manor generally leads to bank robbery or worse.

6. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

James Isaac Neutron brought his particular brand of CGI high-tech lunacy to movies and Nickelodeon at the turn of this century and beyond. He's not really evil, but man, is he annoying.
Verdict: Get a haircut.

5. Oliver Watson

If you haven't read I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President, go find it, read it, and then come back. We'll wait. Done? Now you understand how this 13-year-old genius hiding behind his bad looks while running an entire criminal empire would operate (much like Gru in Despicable Me, but sans the cute Minions). Penned by a writer for The Daily Show, the book will probably get movie-fied.
Verdict: Vote for him, or you'll pay.

4. The Master

Known as Koschei when he was a boy on the planet Gallifrey, this youngster grew up with a friend who would eventually become the heroic renegade Time Lord known as The Doctor. Driven mad when looking into the Time Vortex—a madness signified by a constant drumming in his head—Koschei took the name The Master and went rogue, deciding life was best spent terrorizing his old friend and the universe.
Verdict: Don't play Rock Band with him; he's got a laser screwdriver, and a lot of loose screws.

3. Stewie Griffin

Perpetual one-year-old Stewart Gilligan Griffin lives in Quahog, Rhode Island, where he still falls for peek-a-boo while building time machines, teleporters, weather control, clones, and other sophisticated sci-fi devices. On the side, he's into any number of criminal operations, some so hyper-violent that the weak-stomached may wonder how he stays on network television in Fox's Family Guy. His greatest crime: trying to get his mom's attention (see video below).
Verdict: Stay out of Rhode Island, for your own safety.

2. Tom Marvolo Riddle

Like a good anagram? So did Tom. He was considered the most talented student ever at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and also the wickedest kid ever sorted into the very evil house of Slytherin. Over the next several decades he became the most powerful Dark Wizard in history, building an army of Death Eaters to terrify the world. He was killed when he tried to murder the infant prophesized to take him out, Harry Potter. The problem with Tom—or as he called himself by then, Lord Voldemort—is that he had a habit of coming back.
Verdict: Destroy all the Horcruxes before you fight this guy.

1. Anakin Skywalker

You may not have immediately realized way back in Episode 1 of the Star Wars saga, but that little twerp with the brains to build a protocol droid and the skills to pilot in a pod race...is also destined to become the legless right-hand Sith Lord to the Emperor of the galaxy, and responsible for countless atrocities. He even cuts off his own son's hand years later.
Verdict: Let your kids take shop class with Anakin—but that's it. Top

About the Author

Eric narrowly averted a career in food service when he began in tech publishing at Ziff-Davis over 25 years ago. He was on the founding staff of Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine (all defunct, and it's not his fault). He's the author of two novels, BETA TEST ("an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale"--Publishers' Weekly) an... See Full Bio

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